Apparel merchandising lends insights to food sales

By Communications staff, Washington State University
 
Graduate student Nate Skuza surveys grocery story consumers about their
willingness to pay for organic foods.
 
 

Ellis
Organic food sales grew more than 20 percent last year, said Joan Ellis, an associate professor in apparel, merchandising, design and textiles (AMDT). Such knowledge may not seem part of her discipline, but AMDT’s merchandising option covers more than just the apparel business, Ellis said.

“We study consumer behavior,” she said. “The largest retailers in the world are grocery stores, so consumer behavior research has applications there as well as in many other retail formats.”


McCracken
Consequently, she has collaborated recently to examine consumers’ willingness to pay for organically produced food products and functional food products in the state of Washington. She is working with WSU economist Vicki McCracken, economics doctoral student Nate Skuza, AMDT master’s student Emily Hunt, and economics undergraduate Rini Mukhopadhyay.

“The long-term goal of this research is to educate consumers, identify target markets and help organic producers and retailers better manage risk and capture higher price premiums on organic products,” Ellis said.

Taking research to the grocery stores
 
Although studies of consumers’ willingness to pay are not new, Ellis said very few studies have been conducted in the field.

“Most research on consumers’ willingness to pay using our methodology has been done in a controlled laboratory environment,” she said. “We’re taking the methodology out into the actual grocery store and talking to real consumers.”

The team received an Emerging Research Issues grant of roughly $68,000 for two years from the WSU Agricultural Research Center. Having completed two trial runs at Rosauers in Moscow, Idaho, the group examined larger audiences at five different grocery stores in Spokane in March.

Ellis emphasized that such research is necessary as consumers continue to demand more environmentally friendly and healthy options. However, an obvious gap continues to exist between what the consumer demands and the retailers’ and producers’ ability to supply such products in a profitable manner, she said.

“We’re trying to help bridge that gap and help retailers and producers realize profitability while increasing choices to the consumer of organic food and fiber products,” Ellis said.

Non-food organic products too
 
Using the same methodology, Ellis and students in her AMT 108 and AMT 450 classes are examining the consumers’ willingness to pay for organic cotton over regular cotton t-shirts.

“Organic cotton production has grown 152 percent since 2007 and the sale of organic fiber products such as linens and clothing in the U.S. has grown 26 percent since 2007,” she said.

Although the team’s focus on organic apples, dairy products and functional foods will be completed this summer, Ellis said she expects research on markets for organic products to continue.

“As long as there is a demand in the market for organic food and fiber products, there are going to be unanswered questions that we are going to continue to pursue,” she said.